A new bill proposes to limit the state's power over surface water protection

By Christie Chisholm

Ben Seigling remembers getting his knees muddy and hair full of silt wading in the Rio Grande as a little kid. He remembers digging his toes into the sand as he battled the river's currents. He also remembers the many long hours he spent on the river and in the Bosque over the last year, as part of a program offered by the Indio-Hispano Academy of Agricultural Arts & Sciences, studying water and soil quality and talking to the local farming community. And he remembers last February, when he and six of his peers testified in front of the Water Quality Control Commission in hopes of raising surface water standards for a long stretch of his embattled childhood playground.

Talking about nuclear power, except to condemn it, can get you busted by the political correctness cops and sentenced to an enviro re-education camp. Imagine endless days of group readings of Edward Abbey and public contrition for daring to ask what's wrong with harnessing the atom in the service of humanity.

Political correctness prohibits even reading certain books. Like New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici's hybrid autobiography and nuclear engineering text. Pete titled his book, A Brighter Tomorrow even though much of it retraces his personal history.

To anyone who has observed professionals working a con, the high-pressure sales pitch for Social Security privatization seems suspiciously familiar. Come to think of it, so does George W. Bush's back-slapping style, which is well suited to promoting his vague, wildly expensive "reform" proposal to the nation's teeming rubes.

Dateline: England—The Queen, apparently, does not rock. Legendary guitarists Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Brian May were all attending a party at Buckingham Palace last Tuesday when they were approached by Queen Elizabeth II, who asked, “And what do you do?” Clapton later told reporters that it was great to meet her and it doesn't matter at all that she didn't know who they are or what they do. The quartet of famed rockers were at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the announcement of a new prize, the Queen's Medal For Music, which will reward musicians who have had an impact on Britain. The award will be given out on Nov. 22, the memorial day of St. Cecilia, patron saint of music.

[RE: "On Assignment," Feb. 10-16] Thank you for your article, "Humping in Four Hills," about our unexpected speed hump invasion. As we learned the hard way, the city can bypass its own procedures if enough influential citizens (say, a city councilor, the mayor, and his mom) want humps in their neighborhood. To prevent this from happening to other areas, the Albuquerque City Council will soon vote on an amendment to ordinance O-05-97 that would require notification of all affected residents prior to installation of speed humps, as well as ensure that humps will not delay emergency vehicles more than 30 seconds. I urge all Albuquerque residents to ask their city councilor to support that amendment.